Vegan & Whole Wheat Nankhatai – No Maida, No Eggs Cookies

Soft but tender, flavorful & aromatic, lightly sweet, and eggless whole wheat Nankhatai cookies recipe. These Nankhatai are bakery-style cookies and their small size makes them look cute and pretty. These are Indian cookies that are made mostly by the street vendors on their big hot flat pan (tawa) or kadhai. But now these are sold in big bakeries too.

BEWARE! They can get addictive with just one bite 😀

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What is Nankhatai?

Nankhatais are shortbread cookies that originated in the Indian subcontinent. These are made with a mix of different flours, sugar, and clarified butter. But now you will get it in many different flavors. There are rose-flavored Nankhatai or coconut Nankhatai. They all are aromatic and taste very good. These are made smaller in size and that makes them cute and irresistible.

What is the texture of Nankhatai?

These cookies are buttery soft but tender enough to hold the shape and take a nice bite. These are not soft and chewy. You take a bite and it just melts in the mouth. These cookies don’t puff up much or increase in size. The addition of sooji makes it more crispy and you will have a grainy feel in the mouth. The cookies made with refined flour are much softer than the ones made of whole wheat flour. But whole wheat flour is a healthier choice and it gives a nice nutty kind of flavor in the cookies.

Since there are many different flavoring and aromatic ingredients in these cookies, the kitchen smells amazing when you bake them.

Tips to bake it right

1. Flour: These cookies are generally made with refined flour, gram flour, and sooji. But I replaced the refined flour with whole wheat flour. It tastes good and the texture also comes out nice – soft but tender. You need to add more flavoring ingredients to whole wheat cookies than you add in the refined flour cookies.
2. Sifting: Sifting dry ingredients is very important. Sometimes your sugar or flour contains some tiny lumps which are unnoticeable. And it gets difficult to form a smooth dough if they have any lumps. Especially, sugar lumps don’t dissolve while creaming it with butter. You will be able to see those lumps even in baked cookies. Hence, SIFT DRY INGREDIENTS.
3. Room temperature ingredients: Make sure all the ingredients are at room temperature. If your butter, flour, etc. are in the refrigerator, take them out at least 1 hr before baking.
4. Creaming: For how long should we cream the butter and sugar? More than the time, focus on the texture. Whisk it well till you see a light-colored, creamy, foamy texture. If you need the time, then whisk by hand for around 5 to 7 minutes.

How to store these cookies?

You can put these cookies in an air-tight container and leave them on the counter for up to 7 days.

I live in Munich, Germany and the weather here is quite cold – 0 degrees Celsius or below. But the room temperature is not that cold. I kept them on the kitchen counter and they lasted for more than 7 days. They didn’t stale. I kept them in an air-tight container.

What happens if we overmix the cookie dough?

This is a big problem in making cookie dough. Often, we overmix the dough which results in hard cookies. When you overmix the dough, it forms gluten. And on baking, you won’t get that crumbly texture. It will be a little hard and snap on breaking.

Also, use a light hand while mixing the dough. Too much pressure often results in overmixing and gluten formation. I would suggest using a spatula for mixing because that helps a lot. And mix using the cut and fold method. In this method, you cut the dough using the spatula and then fold everything in. Then repeat the same until you don’t see any dry flour left in the bowl.

Can I use jaggery instead of sugar?

Yes. Of course. You can replace the refined sugar either with brown sugar or with jaggery.

Is this recipe Vegan?

Yes. This Nankhatai recipe is completely vegan and plant-based. But if you are not vegan, you can use the dairy alternatives of the vegan products.

Easy Swaps

1. Whole Wheat Flour: You can use refined flour instead-but in that case the quantity of milk will change. Add accordingly. Click here for the refined flour Nankhatai recipe.
2. Vegan Butter: You can use any other dairy butter
3. Seasonings: You can add any seasoning or flavoring ingredient of your choice. You can avoid any of the flavoring ingredients added to the recipe.
4. Milk: You can use any plant-based milk or any dairy alternative. You can even use water instead of milk.

More Cookie Recipes

1. Soft & Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookie
2. Whole Wheat Gingerbread Cookies
3. 5-Ingredient Oats Thumbprint Cookie

Now you are all ready to bake these delicious and gorgeous cookies at home. Once you bake these cookies, I can guarantee you that you will never ever buy any cookies from the market. Grab all the ingredients and bake them today. If you enjoy the recipe, please share it on Instagram and tag us too @marriedfriends. We love to see your recreation of our recipes.

Happy Baking & Merry Christmas.

Love from us

Richa & Jatin